Stora Enso has appointed law firms in Brussels, Helsinki and the US to assist with competition authority investigations into alleged anti-trust activities (TTJ 29 May/June 5).
The move follows inspections at Stora Enso locations in Europe and the receipt of subpoenas in the US. In Brussels and Helsinki the law firms are reviewing documents given to the European Commission and in the US responses to the authorities are being prepared.
Stora Enso chief executive officer Jukka Härmälä said: “Stora Enso has had a longstanding competition compliance policy and the organisation has been trained for implementing it. Therefore, Stora Enso is treating these issues seriously.”
The company said the investigations in both Europe and the US are at the preliminary stage and no legal proceedings have been initiated charging the group or any of its employees with unlawful conduct.
UPM is also under investigation.
